surface tension

How reducing “frictions” can lead to more effective businesses

Image source: Department of Theoretical Physics at Ural University. Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other…

Highlight: “Researchers at the University of Israel have investigated the self-locomotion of certain micro-organisms…these tiny swimmers live in a world surrounded by fluids and dominated by friction… they show that adaptations have led their propulsion to be almost friction-less as the micro-swimmer are propelled forward with the speed of the backward surface motion…in other words they move throughout an almost quiescent fluid…”

Insight: For those who have taken advanced chemistry classes, a fun and favorite experiment has always been playing with liquid nitrogen and splashing it on surfaces. Observing the droplets flow speedily is rather amusing! It is the result of a process whereby the very low temperature fluid instantly boils at room pressure and temperature thus creating a layer of air below it which allows the almost friction-less movement of the droplets. In such experiment one can visualize firsthand how surface frictions can dramatically slow down motion …

Friction-less adaptations can greatly improve natural systems energy levels and the same applies to the business world. In business terms “frictions” would be defined as elements which slow the normal operations or that prevent it from performing better. Typical examples would include inefficient staff(s), wrongly applied systems or processes and miscommunications.

Image: The Fishbone Diagram provides an overview of typical business “frictions”

Basically at any given time there are areas of a business which suffer from frictions and affect the overall operations. Often the situation is such that businesses don’t even realize that they are being slowed down by these frictions and blame poor performances solely on external factors instead such as the economy!

Is your business not performing as well as it should? If so, perhaps you should consider assessing where the frictions are and working towards dimming them…

What is Biomimetics: the field of gaining inspiration from nature first to solve some of our most difficult challenges. Instead of coming up with our own solutions to a problematic, the odds are that species or natural systems on the planet already offer an ultimate solution. This simple fact is also another strong case to preserve species at all cost as the intellectual heritage contained within or through the study of species is both irreplaceable and invaluable…

How to overcome obstacles with minimal risks

Image source: Seoul National University. Surface tension*: The cohesive forces among liquid molecules are responsible for this phenomenon. In the bulk of the liquid, each molecule is pulled equally in every direction by neighboring liquid molecules, resulting in a net force of zero.

Highlight: “a group of engineers, led by a researcher at the Seoul National University, have just created a machine that can jump on water…the engineers studied the mechanics behind the Water Strider, an insect that can easily jump upwards from a pond. It’s an ability that’s poorly understood in insects in general…The trick, according to an analysis of a high-speed film of Water Striders, is to push down on the water with the maximum velocity that the surface tension can take. The further the insect’s leg pushes down, the greater the surface tension that builds under the leg and the better the upward jump. But if the leg pushes too far, the meniscus—the curved water surface—can’t take it and gives way, allowing the leg to sink…it’s necessary to find the optimal balance: push down hard enough to make maximum use of the surface tension, but not so hard that you rupture it…”

Insight: The water tension analogy is an inspiring business philosophy: The faster an obstacle tries to break the water surface the more difficult it is to go through it; as a matter of fact hitting water at high speeds is similar to trying to go through a concrete wall and a guarantied catastrophic outcome.

Is there something blocking you from moving ahead? If so, perhaps consider a slower well-thought pass-through rather than trying to rush. A slower path is often associated with significantly lesser risks than fast aggressive actions. However, rushing through is always an option and sometimes succeeds (not without risks);

The point to retain here is that if one goes too fast, beyond a certain threshold point, than the failure rate increases sharply…

Diagram: Economic models follow similar trends: if you try to go too fast in trying to reach the financial break-even point by pushing aspects such as initial cost benchmark, the sales are likely to collapse. It is all about finding the right balance between time and cost…

The adequate planning of the completion speed of any project (time management) is crucially important in its success rate. It can be really tricky to find the right balance that will keep a project on the track of a successful completion. The reality is that in life some situations are subject to risk taking while avoidance is the norm. Which path would you choose?

What is Biomimetics: the field of gaining inspiration from nature first to solve some of our most difficult challenges. Instead of coming up with our own solutions to a problematic, the odds are that species or natural systems on the planet already offer an ultimate solution. This simple fact is also another strong case to preserve species at all cost as the intellectual heritage contained within or through the study of species is both irreplaceable and invaluable…